This invention relates generally to televisions and particularly to apparatus and methods for controlling video cassette recorders from a television and also relates to electronic guides and electronic magazines.
Previews of upcoming movies or television programs are commonly shown to generate interest in them. One technique is to show clips of the video before or after the full presentation of another program. This is done both for television programs or movies to be shown on television. Increasingly common is the inclusion of video clips of other movies on a rented video cassette tape. The renter of the video cassette tape rents the tape to watch a particular movie, but also can watch the previews, which are put onto the otherwise unused tape in the video cassette. A problem with this conventional technique is
Also increasingly common is the video cassette tape with infomercials. Usually, only one infomercial is put on a tape, for example a Plymouth Voyager advertisement, and the tape is mailed out to potential buyers. If more infomercials or advertisements are on the tape then the user must watch the entire tape to see all the advertisements. Even if a table of contents is provided at the beginning of the tape, there is no easy method of advancing the tape to the location of the selected advertisement.
It is desirable to have a common point of control for accessing programs on a video tape cassette and a television is able to provide this capability.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a television for controlling a video cassette recorder to access programs on a video cassette tape. There is also a need for a television for providing control for indexing a tape to a selected program or video.